ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Four weeks into the 2024 NFL season, the Denver Broncos‘ defense has already seen its depth tested. And it has resoundingly answered questions directed at it this offseason.
“We have guys … who are doing things right,” said defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. “That allows me to help them if they can digest game plans. It’s a smart group. It’s young in some areas, [but] it has enough veterans to push us forward, and I’ve been proud to watch them play and have fun each week.”
The Broncos approached this season staring at a re-tooled defensive line, two new safeties, a new inside linebacker and a rather significant job opening at the high-traffic cornerback spot opposite Pat Surtain II. NFL life allows for some turnover every season, but there was a super-sized helping of change on defense for Denver this year.
On top of that, linebacker Alex Singleton — the Broncos’ leading tackler the past two seasons and the team’s leader through three games in 2024 — tore an ACL in Week 3 and will miss the remainder of the season.
And yet, the 2-2 Broncos are ranked among the league’s top four in sacks per pass play (first), total sacks (second), red zone defense (second), total defense (tied for second), scoring defense (third), defensive efficiency (third), pass defense (fourth) and third down defense (fourth). The only major statistical category where they’re not top four is run defense (tied for 12th), but they’ve gone from allowing 287 yards in their first two games (both losses) to 155 over the past two (both wins).
“[Former Broncos defensive coordinator and long-time coach] Wade [Phillips] taught me this years ago — it’s not the scheme, but it’s players first,” Joseph said. “We signed a bunch of [defensive] linemen that were twitchy and fast and active guys. So you kind of fit the scheme to those guys’ skill set. It’s always players first and scheme second. … It’s just calling plays and having game plans to stop what they do best.”
And no player may signify the Broncos’ defensive all-in more than linebacker Justin Strnad, who was launched into the lineup for Sunday’s 10-9 win over the New York Jets because of Singleton’s injury. Strnad, a fifth-round pick by the Broncos in the 2020 draft, had not played a single snap on defense since Oct. 31, 2021, prior to starting Sunday’s game.
All Strnad did was sack Aaron Rodgers on the first play from scrimmage in the game, one of five times the Broncos sacked Rodgers. Strnad finished with four tackles and two tackles for loss.
“Just coming through the gap, Aaron didn’t see me coming,” Strnad said. “I thought to myself ‘I’m about to sack Aaron Rodgers.’ … We practiced it during the week and [linebacker] Cody [Barton] came into the huddle with the call, and I was like ‘Alright, let’s roll’ … starting the game with a blitz, I love it.
“But honestly … when it’s three years, you start to think maybe you’re not going to get the chance.”
Strnad will get plenty of chances in Singleton’s absence.
Up front, the results to the offseason change have been almost everything the Broncos hoped. The arrival of defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers in a trade (with the Jets), along with defensive tackle Malcolm Roach in free agency, has freed Zach Allen from the double-teams he often faced last season. In turn, Allen has picked up a tackle for loss in every game this season. Both Allen and Roach are among the league’s top 11 defenders in pass rush win rates against single blockers (Nos. 5 and 11, respectively), a testament to Franklin-Myers’ impact in diverting blocking help.
The Broncos have nine players with at least one sack, and their 16 total sacks rank behind only the Minnesota Vikings (17) in the NFL. Denver’s five sacks on Rodgers on Sunday marked the first time since Week 15 of the 2020 season that Rodgers had been dropped five or more times in a game.
“Aaron is tough to sack, tougher every year it seems like,” said Franklin-Myers, who played with Rodgers on the Jets in 2023. “… And they came into the game not having given up a lot of sacks (five in the first three games combined), so it shows if we do it right and bring it every time, what we can do.”
And then there’s cornerback Riley Moss, a third-round draft pick in 2023, who won the right to be one of the busiest defensive backs in the league at the corner spot opposite the rarely challenged Surtain. Moss has been tested plenty already this season. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, his 27 targets as the nearest defender are tied for the fifth-most among all NFL defenders. And while he has seen some flags thrown his way that the Broncos haven’t always agreed with — three pass interference calls, including two Sunday — he has welcomed the challenge.
In four games, Moss has 29 tackles (21 solo), knocked down two passes and recovered a fumble. Joseph said before the season the “other” cornerback for the Broncos would have to have the “fortitude” for the job. Surtain, for one, believes Moss is all about that fortitude.
“Call doesn’t go your way sometimes, you can get frustrated and it can get in your head,” Surtain said. “But [Moss] doesn’t do that, he just moves on to the next play and that’s big time for him. Sometimes in those moments, players, they get frustrated, they feel a certain kind of way and … it affects them. He just plays play after play after play … he’s one of those who came in with the right mindset, right composure.”
After Sunday’s win, the Broncos defenders almost unanimously finished every sentence about the good they’ve done with some version of “still a long way to go” or “still a lot of work to do.” But they are a long way from where they were last season, when they surrendered 28 or more points in four of their first five games, including 70 in an infamous Week 3 loss to the Dolphins.
“[We’re] resilient,” starting safety P.J. Locke said after Sunday’s rain-soaked win. “Last year we didn’t do that, started 1-5. And we had all types of distractions this week, going to Greenbrier and the rain there, then coming in here with s—ty conditions. … We just dealt with things and played.”
